Fire and Brimstone
by emeraldwolf
Summary: Complete::: Kurt seems to have lost control. And a person from his past is back. SLASHYAOI! KurtPyro complete
1. Default Chapter

This story has some strong SLASH or YAOI hintings. If you don't like slash, you could still read and enjoy this story, it just won't seem as sad or angsty to you as it might to a slash fan. ^_^ please review, and this is my first X-Men Evolution fanfic, so please give me some tips. I know I'm messing with quite a few pasts of characters in here, sorry, but deal with it. ^_~  
  
Jean yawned as she poured herself a glass of water. She cracked her neck and looked like she hadn't slept for weeks. In reality, she was just exhausted from a day of training in the danger room.  
  
She picked up her glass of water and trudged lazily up the stairs to her room. As she walked down the hallway, she could hear a noise coming from within one of the rooms. 'Who would be up at this hour?' Jean glanced at the clock on the wall which read 2 am.  
  
A loud slam caused Jean to take a step back, suddenly waking up and becoming rather worried. 'It's coming from that hall.' Jean placed her water safely on a table beside the door to her room, and creeped into a nearby hallway. The sounds were coming from the very last room on the right. 'Kurt?'  
  
Jean heard a strangled cry from inside the room as she walked up to it. Deciding not to take any chances, she flung open the door and looked around for an attacker, her telekinesis ready to go. But she couldn't see anyone. No one at all. The bed inside was empty, the sheets and covers twisted and thrown off the bed.  
  
"Kurt?" Jean whispered, taking another step inside the room.  
  
:::Bamf::: Jean whirled around but was too slow to stop the foot from slamming into her face. She spun in the air before landing hard on the floor.  
  
She looked up and saw Nightcrawler standing in the doorway. He was hunched over and breathing hard, his tail thrashing wildly back and forth. But his eyes weren't looking at her. They were glowing a bright yellow, and half lidded, he stared up at the ceiling.  
  
"AHHHHH!" Kurt let out a frightening scream before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.  
  
"Wait Kurt!" Jean stood up, but felt dizzy from the kick to her head and swayed for a moment. All the students in that hall darted out of their rooms, in states of undress, looking around and firing questions.  
  
"Who screamed?"  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"Are we being attacked?"  
  
"Jean!" Scott ran over and helped to steady Jean as she finally found her balance again.  
  
"It's Kurt. He kicked me, then he ported somewhere." Jean concentrated, but couldn't get a grasp on where the teleporter was.  
  
"We have to find him Scott. There was something very wrong with him." Scott nodded and let Jean stand on her own, but remained close enough just in case.  
  
"Alright everyone, spread and search. We have to make sure Nightcrawler is okay." The students nodded and ran down the hallway, calling out to Kurt and waking up anyone who missed the scream. Wolfsbane transformed and sniffed the air with her sensitive nose. She motioned to Cannonball and began to gallop towards the other wing of rooms.  
  
"Come on guys. She's got his scent."  
  
Kitty lay in her bed, halfway between being awake and asleep. She could hear noises somewhere, but it felt too early to be time to get up for school. Pulling the covers down from over her head, she sat up and groggily wiped the sleep from her eyes.  
  
Kurt's two feet planted themselves on the sides of Kitty's legs and the girl let out a surprised yelp.  
  
"Kurt! What are you doing, get out!?!" Kitty's fury faded as she saw that Nightcrawler has his sharp teeth bared, and that his vacant eyes were glowing gold. His arms were held tightly at his side and his head was held up. 'He isn't even looking at me.'  
  
"Kurt? Hey, are you, like, okay?" Kitty went to reach out to her friend, but his head suddenly snapped down and he stared with his glowing eyes right at her. The blue mutant spun around and whipped his wicked tail straight at Kitty's head.  
  
Closing her eyes she phased through the attack, and sat in shock as Kurt ported out of her room, the smell of sulfur lingering. With her whole body shaking, the girl turned to look at the headstand of her bed. There was a thick gash in the wood running parallel to her eyes, carved in by the point of Nightcrawler's tail.  
  
Logan leapt into the foyer of the mansion, sniffing the air and holding his claws ready for action. He could faintly smell sulfur, which meant Kurt had ported again.  
  
"He isn't up there!" Evan yelled as he ran down from one side of the staircase.  
  
"Kurt was just in my room. What's going on?" Kitty ran in from the other side of the stairs, panting and pale. Wolfsbane and Cannonball were with her, the wolf with her nose to the ground, trying to pick up Nightcrawler's scent.  
  
"That's what I want to know half-pint." Wolverine looked around, straining his hypersensitive hearing to it's limits, but Kurt wasn't close enough or loud enough to alert him to his presence.  
  
The X-Men slowly came together in the foyer of the mansion and stood together, prepared with their powers to apprehend the Nightcrawler.  
  
"We don't want to hurt him, but we have to make him stop." The X-Men nodded to their leader, but were still edgy waiting for their quarry's next move. Logan and Wolfsbane lifted their heads into the air, their eyes closed. Then Logan's eyes flew open and he roared as he leapt towards the dark ceiling of the mansion.  
  
Everyone heard a bamf and returned to their attack positions as Logan was left hanging by the chandelier in a cloud of blue smoke. Kurt reappeared in the center of the group, crouched down and his head twitching madly back and forth.  
  
"Kurt, what the hell do you think you're doin?" Rogue jumped forward, ready to suck some of the power out of Nightcrawler when he ported out of the way. She fell face down onto the carpet before he reappeared and landed on her. Hard.  
  
Scott fired at Kurt, but again he hit nothing but blue smoke. For a tense moment, the mutant didn't reappear, but when he did it was across the room.  
  
Wolverine leapt down from the chandelier and swiped at Nightcrawler. The mutant looked at him with unearthly eyes before flipping over him and wrapping his tail around Wolverine's neck. Nightcrawler clung to Wolverine's back as he strangled him slowly, the whole time dodging the sharp claws that were attempting to scrape him of.  
  
Jean raised her hand and used all her powers to uncurl the powerful tail and flung Kurt across the room. He was about to hit the far wall when he ported again and ended up in front of Jean. He swung his foot, but was knocked away by a powerful hit from Cannonball.  
  
Kurt lay on the floor, motionless for a few seconds, before he once again stood up, and began to charge the whole group of X-Men, full speed and with teeth bared.  
  
Magma took a step forward and transformed, fire and lava consuming her as she formed a ball of fire in her hand.  
  
Nightcrawler skidded to a stop, his eyes glowing and widened. He began to back up and started to shake uncontrollably. After a few seconds the blue mutant fell to his knees, wrapping his tail and arms around himself, still trembling.  
  
"I-I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." Magma began apologizing profusely, and let all the fire around her fall away. Bobby put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
  
"You didn't do it, Amara. It wasn't your fault." The attention turned back to Kurt, who had settled down slightly. Everyone stood where they were, not wanting to spook the teleporter.  
  
"Jean." Scott nodded to her and she carefully walked forward, giving his mind a gentle feel. 'He's terrified. But at least now I can sense Kurt again.'  
  
"Kurt. It's alright, it's just me. You're safe now Kurt. Just relax, please don't run away."  
  
Kurt finally lifted his head and looked at Jean. His eyes were back to their strange white, and his pupils were back. He looked around frightened for a second, before standing up. His chest was rapidly heaving as he tried to calm himself down.  
  
"Don't." He gritted through his teeth.  
  
"Don't what Kurt?" Jean said in a soft voice, no longer coming closer to the boy who was a few feet away.  
  
"Don't read my mind. Either of you." Kurt looked pleadingly to Professor X, who had been quietly observing.  
  
"We can help-"  
  
"DON'T!" Kurt yelled out, wrapping his arms around himself again. "If you have any respect for me, please, don't ask and don't read my mind."  
  
"Okay, everyone back to bed." Scott began to herd the students back to bed, quite a few looking uneasily towards Nightcrawler. They were all worried about him, and wanted to help, but they feared the golden eyed creature that attacked them so coldly.  
  
Jean laid her hand on Kurt's shoulder but he flinched away. She looked slightly hurt, but walked back to her room as well, to try and get sleep for the next day. Kitty reached out to touch Kurt, but changed her mind at the last second, considering how he had reacted to Jean.  
  
"If you need to talk, I'm like always here for you Kurt." Kitty smiled innocently at him, but when he looked up he seemed more hurt than he had been before.  
  
"Thanks....." Everyone departed and Nightcrawler walked slowly up the stairs, his mind a million miles away.  
  
"Kurt. If this happens again, we may have to find a way to deal with it."  
  
"I know professor."  
  
"Go to sleep. You'll need the rest for tomorrow, elf." Logan walked away from where the students were heading, to his own room, in a hall by the other teachers.  
  
As Kurt was about to disappear down the hallway to his room, Professor Xavier shouted out to him. "Kurt, I'd like you to some see me tomorrow morning before going to the danger room."  
  
"Yes professor." The mutant muttered as he went into his room and lay on his bed.  
  
'You can't be there for me Kitty. And the others can't help me.' He felt a shudder go through his body that made his fur stand on end. 'Why would that happen now, after so long?' Kurt sighed and tried to untangle the sheets that had bound him while he slept. Memories of the dream came back to him in flashes.  
  
Ropes, so tight they were digging into his skin. People, screaming and cursing. Things being thrown at him, striking him in the face.  
  
Kurt finally reorganized his bed and curled up on himself, intent on keeping the nightmares away.  
  
Fire. The smell of burning. Pain. So much pain. Then...a boy.  
  
Cliffhanger, ne? Well, this is a Kurt-centric fic and will feature a boy (from the show, although I'm messing with how he enters the show) and all that happened in this chapter will be explained. If you liked this and want me to continue, leave a review. I think I'll only continue if I get at least 10 reviews, so I know somebody out there liked it. ^__^ bye bye readers!! 


	2. Aftermath

Sorry this took a few days more than I expected. My internet connection went down. _  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Kurt slowly came to realize that the sun was rising outside his window. He watched the whole thing sidewise, from his curled up position on his bed. The yellow sun edged it's way across his vision and the faded gray light became piercing and golden.  
  
Without a split second of sleep, Kurt had been lying in the exact same position for hours on end. Knowing that it was earlier than usual for him, Kurt gave up and crawled from his bed. His tail dragged along the floor, sore from it's exercise last night. Kurt held his head in his hands as he walked, trying to remember what had happened hours before.  
  
'I remember the nightmare, then waking up with all the X-Men around me.' He rolled his shoulder as he swung open his door, noticing that it felt like the muscle had been pulled. 'What did I do last night?'  
  
The hallway of the student rooms was quiet and serene this early in the morning, no line for the bathroom as Kurt was used to. Normally, he wouldn't have been up for at least two more hours, always sleeping in and waking up last, ending up at the end of the long bathroom line.  
  
When he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, Kurt flinched. His white eyes were bloodshot, although it wasn't as noticeable as it would be on a normal person's eyes. He stripped out of his light clothes and stepped under the shower. His fur felt sticky from the sweat he had ended up drenched in during his nightmare. He scrubbed hard at the blue coat, letting the water refresh him.  
  
When Kurt stepped out of the bathroom, he felt a little better, although his body still felt tired. He adjusted his uniform, knowing that he would be going to danger room training after he talked with Professor Xavier.  
  
A quick port, and he was outside the door to the professor's study. He knocked and heard a soft "Come in." from behind the door. He opened the door and closed it quietly behind him, not wanting to awaken the other teachers and students.  
  
The professor was sitting in the middle of the rooms, a calm smile on his face.  
  
"Please Kurt, have a seat."  
  
Nightcrawler teleported and ended up crouching on a couch, too nervous to sit down.  
  
"Now Kurt, you asked me not to probe your mind, and I respect your privacy so I won't."  
  
Kurt sighed and relaxed enough to want to sit down. He didn't quite know what the professor wanted, but he did hope that he would tell him what had happened the night before.  
  
"Do you remember anything about last night?"  
  
"No, professor."  
  
"Alright, Kurt. Do you think you could teleport us quietly into Kitty's room?"  
  
Kurt cocked his head to the side but shrugged out a yes and walked to stand beside the professor. Placing a hand on his wheelchair, they were suddenly inside Kitty's room.  
  
The professor pointed to the headstand, above where Kitty's head was now laying peacefully on the bed. The gash from the night before was still fresh, as if someone had cut through it with a knife. Kurt looked horrified and silently questioned the professor.  
  
Professor Xavier motioned that they should speak of it elsewhere, and Kurt safely ported them back to the study.  
  
"Oh man! Who did that?"  
  
"You did Kurt." Nightcrawler gawked at him for a few seconds before he seemed able to sputter out a question.  
  
"How?" His voice was soft and high out of fear of what he may have done to poor Kitty.  
  
"With that tail of yours Kurt. You did quite a few things with it I've never seen you do before last night."  
  
"I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry professor. I don't know what happened."  
  
"Please calm down Kurt. I just wanted to ask you what you remember about last night."  
  
"Well, I-uh...."  
  
"You don't have to be specific Kurt. Just in general, what are the last things you remember?"  
  
"I, I remember going to bed......then I had a dream...and the last thing I remember is waking up downstairs, with all of you around me."  
  
"Do you remember what the dream was about?"  
  
"Kind of...." Kurt saw the look on the professors face as he rested his chin on his hands, "That's the part I'd rather not talk about professor. It was just a bad dream, I've had it before, it's nothing to worry about."  
  
"Alright Kurt. But if you decide you'd like to tell me about it, don't hesitate to come to me."  
  
"I know professor. Out of curiosity, why are you so interested in what that dream was?"  
  
"I think you may have been sleepwalking." Kurt snorted.  
  
"Sleepwalking? Then how could I have done that to Kitty's bed." 'And who knows what other damage.' Kurt left unsaid.  
  
"Well, you can teleport, and your body is far more agile than any normal humans, so that gave you far more mobility even though you weren't in control."  
  
"Ah. Okay, thanks professor."  
  
"Have a good day Kurt."  
  
Nightcrawler closed the heavy wooden door behind him and began to wander around the mansion, surveying small bits of damage he assumed must have been his. On his way, he passed by Scott who was also up and dressed. The boy looked perturbed about something, and wasn't dressed in his uniform.  
  
"What's up Scott? I thought we had danger room practice this morning?"  
  
"We do, but we're out of milk. All the newbies are having a battle for the last bit in their cereal, so I'm running out to get a carton before Cannonball destroys the other wall of the kitchen."  
  
"Other wall? Maybe you should stay to keep things-"  
  
A loud explosion rocked the mansion, and Kurt fell forward against Scott, knocking them both to the ground. Kurt grinned and sat on top of Cyclops.  
  
"Under control was going to be the end of that sentence, but I'm guessing you knew that already." Kurt grinned and helped Scott to his feet.  
  
"I'm going to kill them."  
  
"Gimme the money and I'll port out for some milk."  
  
Scott paused for a second, but then pulled out a five and passed it to Kurt.  
  
"Bring back as much as you can, hopefully the kitchen will still be there when you get back."  
  
Kurt laughed and switched his inducer on, grateful for the illusion of a normal human self. With a flash of smoke he found himself standing in the alley behind a Fast Mart. He tried to look as casual as he could, walking out of the alleyway whistling with his hands in his pockets.  
  
The small ring of the door announced his arrival, and he strode casually to the drink area, where the milk was. He grabbed three, juggling the bottles as he walked up to the register. 'If I could use my tail, carrying these would be a breeze.'  
  
Kurt hastily threw the milk onto the counter, and the elderly man looked at him through thick glasses.  
  
"Is that all young man?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
At the sound of Kurt's German accent, the old man looked incredulously at him, but Kurt just flashed back a bright smile. As the fossil rang up his three jugs of milk, Kurt's eyes wandered around the register area. Posters were hung up everywhere, for school plays and help seminars. One flyer in particular caught Kurt's attention. It was bright yellow and had pictures of people all over it.  
  
"4 dollars and 38 cents." But the boy's eyes were glued to the poster.  
  
It was a picture of him. The dark fur, the smirk, the devil tail. No one else in the world looked like him. And the faces around his, the attractive young man with spikey hair. Even the old frightening woman in the back. It was a poster for the circus in town for that weekend. It was his old circus.  
  
"Excuse me young man, if you like it that much you can have it."  
  
"I think I'll do that." Kurt haphazardly tossed the five dollar bill to the old man, who was becoming miffed at the rude customer.  
  
Kurt let the change drop into his open palm, careful that the man didn't touch any of his three furry fingers, and grabbed the plastic bags of milk in his other hand. After shuffling his items around for a few minutes, he managed to snatch the poster with a free hand.  
  
Walking out the door of the store, Kurt lightly bumped his shoulder against someone but didn't notice.  
  
"Sorry." He mumbled as he continued to scrutinize every piece of information on the sheet. Intense green eyes followed the boy out, a look of curiosity on the other boy's face. Orange hair was gelled and spiked in different directions, a few sweeping over his face to obscure his eyes as he held his head down.  
  
Kurt rounded the corner of the building and ported back to the mansion, with a few stops on the way, as he couldn't seem to concentrate on where he was going while he looked at the flyer.  
  
Finally, the mutant ended up back in the foyer of the mansion and heard peace and silence. For a second.  
  
"LOOK OUT!!" Multiple and five copies of himself ran out of the kitchen, tossing the milk bottle back and forth to themselves. Evan and Rogue chased after them, intent on getting the remaining bit of milk for their cereal.  
  
Kurt quickly hid the flyer in a pocket and switched off his inducer, feeling safe at home. Multiple and his, well, multiples, ran straight for Kurt as he held up the bag of milk, as if to ward them away.  
  
All six slid to a stop, and for a moment looked afraid. Then they saw the milk and grabbed the three bottles, running triumphantly back to the kitchen.  
  
Evan just shook his head but then saw the expression on Nightcrawler's face.  
  
"Hey man, you okay? You look down in the dumps." Evan took a careful step closer, holding his hands out in a comforting gesture.  
  
"You don't have to treat me like some dangerous animal that might go off at any second you know." Kurt stormed past the two X-Men who were stunned into shock. Normally the blue elf was so optimistic and upbeat, apparently the night had taken more of a toll on him than those he attacked.  
  
Walking into the kitchen, Kurt had arrived just in time for his eardrums to be blown out.  
  
"STOP IT!" Scott bellowed, panting and attempting to hold part of the kitchen counter together.  
  
"EVERYONE. TO THE DANGER ROOM. NOW!!"  
  
"And I thought people were afraid of me." Kurt muttered as he walked over to crouch on the floor beside Scott. Some of the new students shot him odd looks. Amara slipped out of the kitchen fast, her eyes wide. The other students followed, the ones who weren't in uniform yet going faster.  
  
"Hey Kurt, thanks for going out for milk." Kurt nodded and pulled the change from his pocket, extending his hand quickly out to give the money to Scott.  
  
The leader of the X-Men flinched back, before quickly putting his hand out to catch the coins. He felt terrible, but Nightcrawler's actions were always so quick, he was still uneasy after the night before.  
  
"I guess I'll see you in the danger room then." Kurt sadly bamfed out of the room and in front of the entrance to the danger room.  
  
Logan was standing there, watching with his steely gaze as each student passed through the doorway. He saw Nightcrawler and motioned him in as well.  
  
"Come on elf. Today's training won't be a long one."  
  
"Sure." Kurt was still crestfallen at the way everyone acted towards him, but went into the danger room and walked over to the group of X-Men he always hung out with. Finally they seemed to be calming down, and acting normal around him again.  
  
"Heya Kurt, you, like, ready to go?" Kitty's smile brightened Kurt's day, for she had always been afraid of him, and now when everyone turned against him, she seemed unfazed.  
  
'Ha. Shadowcat. Un-fazed. Haha. Man I wish I'd said that one out loud.'  
  
"Alright. Listen up. We're having a short session today, and you kids are lucky for it. We'll be doing a little non-power combat."  
  
Everyone in the room groaned and mumbled, especially the new kids. Logan crossed his arms, and everyone was abruptly silenced.  
  
"Now pair off. When each group has a winner," Logan paused and sighed, he didn't agree with the professor letting them off this easy just because most had lost a little sleep, "then we'll be done here."  
  
Everyone cheered and quickly found opponents. Kurt hoped Shadowcat would pair with him, but she had grabbed Rogue, the two glaring each other down. 'I guess those two will always have a score to settle.' Next Kurt turned to Cyclops, but he and Iceman were already ready to go. And so it went for Nightcrawler.  
  
Jean and Spyke. Berzerker and Jubilee. Cannonball and Wolfsbane. Multiple and Sunspot. Magma was the only one unpaired and so Kurt walked over to her, feeling like the last man picked.  
  
"Ready to go Amara?"  
  
The girl gulped and looked shakier than usual. Kurt didn't understand why she should be afraid, although he couldn't remember what had happened last night.  
  
"Amara.....I didn't, hurt you or anything last night, did I?"  
  
"Y-You don't remember?"  
  
Kurt shook his head but their conversation was cut short as Logan yelled out "Go!"  
  
"Guess we shall continue this later, huh?" Kurt got into a crouching position, and began to circle Magma. She took a few steps away from him, and Kurt would take a few steps forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward.  
  
Nightcrawler sighed heavily and stood up, crossing his arms. Amara had her back against one of the danger room walls, and their group was the only one who hadn't started yet. Jean and Spyke were already done, a very pissed off Jean Grey sulking beside Logan.  
  
Kurt heard something with his sensitive ears and dodged out of the way as Cannonball came hurtling by. He slammed into the wall and everyone in the danger room turned to look. Rahne came by laughing at him, and Logan declared her the winner by default because Cannonball had used his powers.  
  
"Come on Amara. I won't hurt you."  
  
"You expect me to believe that after what you did to Logan last night?"  
  
"Huh?" Kurt looked at Wolverine, who was watching the intense rolling of Scott and Bobby, who were wearing a whole in the danger room with their constant turning.  
  
"What did I do to him?" Amara blinked and finally seemed to be warming up to Kurt again.  
  
"You really don't remember, do you?"  
  
"Hey you two! This isn't a chatting session, spar each other now or you'll both have to go against me!"  
  
"Yeep!" Both chorused together, then turned on each other.  
  
Amara took a chance and ran straight at Kurt, sliding at the last moment, taking out his legs. Kurt had to overpower the reaction of teleporting and felt himself land on the ground, hard. He stood up and leapt at Amara, knocking her back down. She wouldn't take defeat likely though, and brought her feet up to kick against Kurt's stomach.  
  
Nightcrawler flew surprisingly far through the air, landing on his side and skidding a few feet. When he stood up, he shook his head a few times, trying to make the danger room stop spinning. He finally looked back at Amara, in time to see her shoe heading for his face. The blue elf didn't have a chance.  
  
"Magma wins." Logan announced as he helped Kurt up from the ground, a confused look on the boy's face.  
  
"Ish my thnose btheeding?" Kurt mumbled out.  
  
"Yes." Logan rolled his eyes at the boy's attempts to see whether his nose was really bleeding or not.  
  
The other sets of people finished their fights and Wolverine released them, yelling at most of them to ice or bandage one thing or another. The groups of students each went off to enjoy their Saturday and talked about what they were going to do. Kurt put his hand on Amara's shoulder to slow her down, she seemed to be rushing away. When his three fingered hand touched her, she jumped in the air.  
  
"Oh, hey Kurt."  
  
"Why so jumpy today Amara?"  
  
"Well," she said nervously, shifting on her feet, "I thought maybe you were mad at me beating you."  
  
"I'm not mad, you won fair and square."  
  
"No I didn't. You went easy on me."  
  
Kurt just blinked. He couldn't understand why Amara would even think that he would go easy on her.  
  
"I didn't go easy on you Amara."  
  
"Well, had you fought me like you did last night, I wouldn't have had a chance."  
  
"Was....was I really that dangerous?" Amara stopped and pulled Kurt out of the rush of students. She pointed to Logan as he walked around the edge of the danger room, checking to make sure none of the security systems had been damaged in the session.  
  
"Look at his neck." She whispered, Kurt's demon ears picking up the sound perfectly. He did, and for the first time noticed a slight bruise on parts of Logan's neck.  
  
"Let me guess. I did that last night."  
  
"You really don't remember? You jumped on Logan's back and wrapped your tail around his neck." Kurt looked down at his sore tail, now understanding why the muscles had become hard and painful. He rarely used his tail for anything other than hanging on, it was there for balance and to be used as a tail, not a weapon. In his whole life he'd never used it purposely to attack someone, but he knew it must have been strong to leave a bruise on Wolverine.  
  
"Thanks for your help Amara. I may not be able to remember what I did, but I'm sorry for it anyway."  
  
Amara smiled and gave Kurt an unexpected hug. He stiffened, mostly out of surprise, but soon the hug was gone and Amara waved back at him, a bright smile on her face. Kurt was glad that at least one of the X-Men had started to trust him again, and seemed to understand where he was coming from.  
  
Kurt lagged behind after Amara left with the rest, waiting until he was alone on his way to his room before he pulled the flyer out of his pocket.  
  
His eyes were again drawn to two specific figures. Himself, in a rather daring costume meant to emphasize his demonic features. And the boy standing beside him. The boy with the hair which stood up seemingly on its own. Fiery orange hair. His costume was made up of leather, black with red and yellow flames on the ankles. The flyer was all in black and yellow, but Kurt had the colors of that boy's outfit memorized. He had spent a large part of his time growing up in that circus, and they were his first family.  
  
Kurt looked at where the circus was to be set up and realized it wasn't too far away. They were going to be performing at 8 on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. 'Hm, it's been a while, maybe I should go see them again. But we didn't exactly part on....good terms.' Kurt debated for a few minutes, chewing on his lower lip as he thought, before he decided to take a quick look at his old family before coming back to see what the other X-men were up to.  
  
Kurt flicked on his inducer and thought about the area where the circus would be, then bamf, he was gone.  
  
* * * * * * * * Thank you all SO much for reviewing. I got the 10 I needed, so this fic will be completed, although I don't know how long it may take. I will try and do it fast though. Keep reviewing people, and don't worry, Pyro will be making his real appearance in the next chapter. ^_~ I hope you enjoyed this, later people! 


	3. Hidden embers

Kurt opened his eyes. The sun was bearing down now that it was noon and he had to shield his eyes from the glare. Taking a step back, Kurt was now under the shade of a nearby tree.  
  
In front of him was the circus. They had arrived the night before and were putting up the circus. Huge trailers were parked on the farthest side, with the rooms of the circus performers contained inside. Small, but necessary for a circus that travels all over the world.  
  
The big top was bright yellow and blue stripes, and was just now being finished. It's flags waved in the slight breeze, announcing the exciting acts within. Members of the circus wandered around, helping to set up the booths outside the big top and carrying seats into the tent.  
  
Kurt heard a loud growl and looked over to see a man leading a lion on a leash into it's cage. He was one of the few members of the circus that Kurt had recognized so far. The man was enormous, 7 feet and pure muscle. He had shaved his head and had earrings covering his ears, but in reality was incredibly shy and quiet. The Strong Man, as he was called, also doubled as the animal trainer. He would put on a safari outfit and hat, and no one would recognize him. The elephants obeyed him perfectly, and the lions were his best friends.  
  
The Strong Man locked the cage that was used for show in the circus, smaller but more extravagant than the places the animals really stayed.  
  
Kurt saw a few acrobats he didn't know go by, and ticket men. Deciding to stop putting it off any longer, he stepped out of the shadows and walked straight across the fair grounds. An old woman, the fortune teller, walked in front of him with a scrutinizing eye. Then she smiled, her blackened and spaced out teeth even worse than the last time Kurt had seen them.  
  
"I see you're back boy. Nice to have you again." The old woman gave him a half-bow, her large golden earrings and sets of beaded necklaces jingling together.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" Kurt double checked that his inducer was working, although this was once a place where he never had to hide his face. A place where people paid to see his real self.  
  
"I am not a fortune teller for nothing, Kurt." With a croaky laugh the old woman walked to her booth, to prepare for those who wished to know what only she could tell them. Nightcrawler wondered for the millionth time if the old hag was a mutant, but knowing her, if she was she would keep it to herself.  
  
Kurt walked behind the big top, trying to look casual. The crowds never started showing up until the sun set, and if a circus performer he didn't know caught him, he might end up in trouble.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw something red go by. He darted behind a game booth that, for the moment, was unmanned. He peeked over the wooden table to see another flash of fire go by. Fur standing on end, the mutant shuddered but refused to look away.  
  
A boy stood stock still, his head down, and eyes closed. His orange hair was loose and fell in front of his face. His hair was cut short, short enough that he could spike it up when needed to. Kurt felt something in his chest tighten as he gazed at his fire angel.  
  
Then the boy's bright green eyes opened, and a small match in his hand burned brighter than before. Then it spread out around him, becoming a huge massive fire, orange flames licking their way across the field, leaving only blackened ash behind them. When a large circle had been made, the fire stopped. The boy held his hands together, just barely touching, and concentrated on the space between them.  
  
The flames curled upward into the air and flew at the red head. They swarmed together like bees, before flowing through the boy's fingers and into a small, single flame. He held it for a moment longer, before clapping his hands the rest of the way together, snuffing out the small orange light.  
  
St. John Allerdyce brushed his hands off, looking content and happy at his work. The area was cleared of the tall weeds and grasses, and all without having to do another more strenuous than raising a finger. Kurt took in the appearance of the boy and committed it to his memory, for later. He wore a white tank top that showed off the boy's muscles, average for a boy of his age. A red silk button up shirt covered his perfect shoulders and biceps, much to Kurt's chagrin. He wore big baggy black jeans, which had obvious signs of being with him for too long, namely the burn marks at the very bottom.  
  
Nightcrawler felt himself gulp loudly in the back of his throat. He had known that this moment was going to come, so his fear seemed foolish. Try telling that to his heart, which was going for a world record speed at the time. Clinging desperately to the wooden booth, he raised himself up and took a shaky breath. 'It's just Pyro. Why am I so nervous?'  
  
Puffing his chest out with a deep breath, Kurt strode toward the other mutant. Pyro's eyes immediately fixed on the attractive boy approaching him. The annoying itch of remembrance began to bother John as he watched this bold boy come closer and closer.  
  
"Listen, we're not really set up yet. If you want to see the circus you can....." John trailed off as the boy continued coming closer, till they were only a few feet apart. Up close the déjà vu seemed to get stronger, and John began squinting at him, as if the image in front of him was just a blurred version of something he should know.  
  
"What's wrong John? You don't recognize me?"  
  
'Now that's strange.' John thought as he was taken by surprise at the boy's thick German accent. 'Maybe he saw our show when we were in Germany, but he looks so damned familiar.'  
  
Kurt took the silence as a no, and heaved a melodramatic sigh. He reached with one finger to his inducer and hit the power button. He felt the air around him shimmer, and was prepared for a surprised gasp as his true blue self appeared. But it never came. He cautiously looked up into soft green eyes that had suddenly come miles closer.  
  
"Kurt...." John reached out and gently brushed the hair from Kurt's face and made the blue elf grin like an idiot. Unable to hold it any longer, Kurt lunged forward, wrapping his arms around John's neck. For the first time in 2 years, the person Kurt touched didn't flinch away. His arms wrapped around him, squeezing him softly, not deterred by the feel of blue fur.  
  
"What are you doing here? We all tried to find you when you left, but we couldn't."  
  
"Why didn't you ask the fortune teller?" Kurt winked up at Pyro as he let go of his neck and stood staring at the boy's face. Kurt smiled, and didn't feel like he had to be constantly hiding his fangs. John had a certain...fancy for Kurt's teeth.  
  
"You know her. The more she told us, the more confused we got." Pyro flashed a bright smile that lit up the emerald of his eyes and Kurt felt his heart melt again. "So what have you been doing here?"  
  
Kurt snapped out of his moment of zoning out and wondered what he should and shouldn't tell his old friend. John saw his hesitation and quickly wrapped one arm around Kurt's shoulder.  
  
"It doesn't matter, why don't we go say hi to the gang."  
  
"I'd really rather not." Kurt laughed and dug his toes into the ground, stopping them both in mid step. John sent a smirk to him but gave up, not wanting to wrestle a devil into a place he didn't want to be.  
  
"Well, lemme take a look at you." Pyro stood back and rubbed his chin as he walked in a circle around Kurt. Still dressed in his Nightcrawler uniform, every muscle and curve of Kurt's body was shown, and Pyro intended to see every one. As he walked around behind Kurt, admiring how much the boy had filled out in the past two years, Kurt swung his powerful tail at John's leg, wrapping around it.  
  
John just looked strangely at the appendage before trying to pry it off. Kurt held tight and turned around to watch the other mutant battle with his snake-like blue tail. John grinned, enjoying the other boy's strange version of flirting.  
  
"We'll see which mutant can keep a hold on who." John reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches, grinning maniacally. Kurt paused, shifting on his feet, unsure of how intense he wanted this thing to go. As a pyrokinetic, John had a short and uncontrollable temper. But his smile told Kurt that he wasn't being serious.  
  
Kurt unwrapped his tail and stood up, relaxing again around his best friend.  
  
"You've changed a lot Kurt. Last time you were here, you would have battled me to the bitter end before letting go." John winked and returned the matchbox to his pocket.  
  
"Hey, I haven't changed that much. I just didn't feel like starting a big fight and gathering an audience."  
  
"Nah. You're not the same old Nightcrawler I used to know, you've changed too much." John turned his back to Kurt, smirking the whole time as he baited the boy.  
  
"I have not changed!"  
  
"If you say so." John spun around and took Kurt forcefully by the face, pressing his lips against the shorter boys. Kurt instantly fell against him, pressing his mouth up against Pyro's. Few at the institute ever gained enough courage to hug him, let alone kiss Kurt. He had forgotten how good a warm mouth against yours can make you feel.  
  
Pyro gently rubbed his thumb across the short fur on Kurt's face, ruffling it and smoothing it back out as he pressed his tongue against Kurt's lips. The boy played back, his tail swishing behind him like a happy dog's.  
  
Eventually John pulled away from the kiss, enjoying the site of Kurt with his eyes still closed and his mouth hanging open. Those perfect teeth, with their unique canines. John hadn't kissed many people, but none of them felt like Nightcrawler. He was one of a kind.  
  
"Hm....you're right. Things haven't changed too much." John leaned down, tauntingly letting his cheek brush Kurt's as he whispered in his ear. "You still taste like sulfur."  
  
Kurt snorted and brought his tail up in between them, running it tantalizingly across Pyro's chest. The boy grinned happily and Kurt leaned up slightly, so he could look him in the eyes.  
  
"And you still taste like an ashtray."  
  
Pyro swung playfully at the demon elf, but he had ported to a safe distance, and blew a kiss at the other mutant before taking off on all fours. Pyro gave chase, quickly taking out and lighting a match. He threw a fireball in front of where Nightcrawler was running, making a wall of flame to stop his path.  
  
Kurt's blank eyes widened as the fire spread in front of him, around him, burning him, suffocating him. He clamped his hands down on his head and fell to his knees, trying to make his mind stop thinking. Anything to make the fire go away.  
  
Pyro saw Kurt fall to his knees and worried that he had let the fire burn too close, or become to strong. He put it out with his mind and immediately ran to Kurt's side. The boy was shivering and jumped when John put his hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Kurt? What's wrong?" he said in a soft tone, trying to comfort his startled friend. Kurt looked up at him with his pale white pleading eyes and Pyro immediately took him in his arms.  
  
"It's happening again."  
  
Pyro held him at arms length so he could look into his eyes.  
  
"What's happening Kurt?"  
  
"The nightmares."  
  
John became very quiet before he helped Nightcrawler to his feet in silence. It had been 5 years ago, when Kurt was 12 and his teleporting powers were just then manifesting that they had found him. He had joined their circus in Germany and traveled around Europe with them for 3 years, before mysteriously disappearing.  
  
Pyro remembered his nightmares. He remembered from when they had been freshly scarred memories. The circus had entered a small town, not even a town, but more of a village in the mountains of Germany. While everyone was setting up the circus, Pyro, a bored 13 year old had wandered into the town and heard something. As he ran into the town square, he saw a mob. They had grabbed onto a small boy, and were now tying him to a large wooden pole.  
  
John's fury raged as he remembered how they were continually punching the boy in the face, and people too far away to do that were throwing things at him. Blood had been running from a cut on his head, and one of his eyes was swollen nearly shut. Had the boy been able to, he could have easily escaped the angry crowd. But one too many hits to the head had stopped his ability to teleport, and he was losing too much blood now to even be able to stand.  
  
When John saw the villagers grabbing torches and bringing them to where the boy was tied up, he began to feel his rage building. The disgusting men threw the fire at the boy's feet, letting it ignite the straw and hay around the pole. It spread quickly to the stake the boy was tied to, and the flames snapped at his feet. His head was beginning to thrash back and forth, unable to move himself from over the fire that would soon engulf him if he didn't move.  
  
Pyro ran forward until he was nearly in the flames. The villagers turned on him then, and one man made the foolish move of grabbing onto one of his arms. Pyro turned with icy green eyes on the barbaric oaf and the fire raced towards him, like a snake through water. The man let go of Pyro and turned to run away, but he was too late. The inferno coiled around him, burning his clothes and flesh and bone in one red flash. Now the villagers felt fear for the young boy, his wild eyes warning them from coming closer.  
  
Pyro turned and held his hands out, controlling the fire, seeping it away from the wooden stake and the innocent boy who was tied tightly to it. His head lolled to one side, and he was obviously unconscious. John's temper began to spike and with it the fires raced for the villagers, catching onto everything in their path. Ensuring that the flames wouldn't come within ten feet of himself and the boy, Pyro let them loose. Fire is a greedy and vicious thing if not controlled, and when it was released, it swept through the town, devouring it.  
  
John called a small bit of fire to him and burnt through the back of the ropes holding down the boy. He fell flat onto the ground, and for the first time John got a good look at his face. It was blue, with the exception of the blood running from a gash on one side. He had no clue what color the boy's eyes might be, for he was still unconscious John knelt beside the boy who was obviously a fellow mutant and picked him up. The smell of burnt fur and flesh overwhelmed him, but he fought down the nausea and looked at the boy's feet.  
  
For a second he thought that the fire had burned off most of the boy's toes, but then he realized that the boy must only have two toes. Sure enough, when he checked his blue hands, there were only three fingers on each. John could tell that the burns that crisscrossed along the boy's feet and calves would need to be treated soon. The fur had taken most of the damage, but beneath there was scorched skin. Focusing on the smoldering flesh, Pyro cooled the wound before walking with the boy in his arms through the fiery village.  
  
"I-I'm all right John." Kurt's voice startled John out of the memories and he realized he had been kneeling beside the boy and holding onto him like a vice for the past ten minutes. He blushed a little as he stood up and helped Kurt to his feet.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"It's nothing. I guess....." Kurt bit his lip and his brow turned down. Pyro put a comforting hand on his shoulder and waited patiently. "I had a nightmare about ......about that village again."  
  
"You used to have them all the time Kurt. But you were never afraid of fire outside of the dreams. Hell, you and I used to perform together every night in the circus, and you would be dodging through flames like they were hoola hoops."  
  
Kurt finally smiled again, albeit a brief one.  
  
"But that was only because you helped me with it. You used your powers."  
  
"To stop the nightmares, yes. But I couldn't do anything about your fear. I couldn't have, you were never afraid of it before."  
  
"I know. It's just." Kurt sighed heavily. He found himself doing that a lot lately. "Last night, when I dreamt about it again. I...I was sleepwalking."  
  
Pyro arched an eyebrow at him. He had never seen Kurt sleepwalk in all the years they had lived at the circus together, even on the nights when his dreams had him screaming in pain.  
  
"And I kinda sleep ported too." John whistled.  
  
"Well that's a new one."  
  
"I know. I even went so far as to attack my friends." John's eyebrows shot up.  
  
"You? Attack someone?"  
  
"I know, right. Apparently I did a lot of damage too. But I..." Kurt grabbed onto his head and Pyro immediately went to comfort him, fearing that he was about to have another episode. "I can't remember anything. What if I had killed them?"  
  
John hugged Kurt, giving him some comfort in his pain. He smoothed out the boy's hair and held onto him tightly.  
  
"You never would have Kurt. I know you. I know you couldn't do that." Kurt breathed in the scent of the boy's shirt and chest. Everything that touched Pyro began to smell like ashes and charcoal. Nightcrawler had forgotten how good someone could smell.  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."  
  
"Hey, I have an idea." John let him go and Kurt felt like pouting for a second but instead listened to what the pyrokinetic had to say.  
  
"Why don't you perform with us while we're in town? It oughta cheer you up."  
  
Kurt looked less than thrilled. 'What if someone I know came to see the circus? They might recognize me, or even worse, it could be some of the X- Men.'  
  
"I don't know...." He said out loud, shuffling his feet in the blackened dirt.  
  
"Come on. It'll help you get over your problem. Who better to help you with a fear of fire, than it's very own master." Kurt felt his heart jump again as Pyro grinned sensually at him. He wasn't sure why, it was probably the pyromaniac in him, but whenever Pyro began talking about fire, he seemed to radiate and draw people in like moths to a flame.  
  
"Maybe." John grinned even more before grabbing Nightcrawler by the elbow and tugging him along.  
  
'What have I gotten myself into?'  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
Thank you all so much. I love the fact that I'm actually getting reviews for this. ^_^ I figured it'd be a bomb since there are so few slash/yaoi X- Men Evolution fics out there. Well, finally some Kurt/Pyro action, and there will be more in the next chapter.  
  
Cheers for Min-kat for hitting the nail on the head and having seen the picture of Kurt tied to a stake that inspired the whole Pyro thing. ^_^ go you! 


	4. Curtain rising

Looking around with his pupil less eyes, Kurt took a large gulp. He was nervous. For more than one reason.  
  
Pyro stood about ten feet in front of him, with a small match flickering in his hand. He was also shirtless. Smaller than some of the enormous men who helped out around the circus, John underplayed how nice of a body he had because he wasn't as massive as guys like the Strong Man.  
  
Kurt decided he liked his guys a little thinner. He remembered the times he and John had spent together, first out of necessity, then out of something more.  
  
"Okay Kurt, remember, the fire can't hurt ya, all right?" John concentrated and the fire crawled over the match and his hand, down his body to the ground. It collected there in a small pile before spreading slowly around Kurt, who stood stock-still. His tail thrashed around behind him, and he clenched his fists and dug his toes into the ground. He wanted to close his eyes and port away, but he knew he shouldn't. John was going to help him, he had to trust him.  
  
"Kurt, your instincts are telling you to do something. If you let them control you...how about we not think about that." Pyro turned the fire down a bit, letting it crawl around the Nightcrawler like a snake in the grass. It completed the firey ring, before growing bolder and taller as it's master relaxed his hold.  
  
Kurt felt his chest moving faster, his heart pounding in his ears. He was afraid. But he wasn't sure why. He knew he should be afraid of fire, but he'd been in countless battles with explosions, and he'd grown up around fire in the circus. After he had been rescued from being burned alive by John, he had had terrible nightmares, but only for the first few nights.  
  
John raised the fire, keeping the temperature so low that it couldn't even light the grasses it crawled over. He slowly contracted the circle around Kurt, letting it go from ten feet away from the mutant, to seven, then to five. His tail began to thrash more wildly, and he had one eye closed, panting heavily. Run. Hide. Attack. Run. Attack. Run.  
  
The panic grew inside Kurt's mind, and soon he fell to his knees, letting out a soft whimper of struggle.  
  
"What are your instincts telling you to do Kurt?" He heard Pyro's voice yell through all the others in his head. Those annoying voices which never made words. He tried to make them stop, focused only on the redhead approaching him through the fire.  
  
John knelt next to Kurt, and placed his hands softly on the edgy boy's head. He forced the fires to again calm, hoping that this would calm his friend down as well. Pyro closed his eyes, and felt inside Nightcrawler's mind. Being a pyrokenetic was different than some mutations, because fire itself had the closest thing to a mind as any element. It raged, it followed it's own path, and to completely control fire, John had to be able to communicate with it's very essence. He could send the fire, the images and memory of the flames within Kurt's mind. Most stemmed from his near death, and the faces of the villagers were becoming embodied in Kurt's memories. In his mind, he wasn't able to think rationally, his instincts took over. Fear, anger, and vengeance were all that his instinctual self could feel.  
  
John quickly extinguished the fires around him, feeling their disappointment as they were snuffed out. The shivering mutant in front of him seemed to calm down, and slowly rose to his feet.  
  
"Sorry." He stretched out, brushing off the invisible dirt that he had gotten on himself. Shaded white eyes focused on the rocks beneath his feet as they shuffled around.  
  
"Kurt, you did fine. It's just that....your instincts are out of whack buddy. You went psycho because you get angry and want to kill when you think about fire."  
  
Pyro wrapped his arm around Kurt and the two began to walk towards the trailers.  
  
"If you want....you can stay with me tonight....and I can help you with your problem."  
  
"How could you?" Kurt stared up at him, trying to keep his eyes from wandering down the boy's chest, which he was pressed quite tightly against.  
  
"Well, if you have a nightmare involving fire, I'll be able to talk to you in your sleep. Kind of. The fire will talk to you." Kurt's jaw hung open, and somewhere under his coat of fur, all the color in his face drained away.  
  
"Why does this not sound like such a good idea?"  
  
"Don't worry about it man. It'll go fine." The two approached where all the changing room trailers were and the circus performers milled about them. The fortuneteller smiled her crooked grin at Kurt and nodded to him before sitting down to begin her fortune telling. The other performers, with suits and jackets over their costumes, went to the front of the circus to sell tickets and admit entrance to the crowd which was slowly forming. A man in a top hat and red coat stepped out of the trailer. His large bushy brown beard made him seem wild and burly.  
  
"Why, if it isn't the Nightcrawler? Where'd you find him John?"  
  
"He followed me home. Can I keep him? Please?"  
  
Kurt pouted and playfully smacked at John. Stepping up to the ringmaster, Kurt smiled. No one here shrunk away in fear of him. They even dared to joke with him. The X-Men were kind to him, and he knew that they didn't look down on him for being a mutant, but instead they walked on eggshells around him. He hated it.  
  
"The return of the amazing Nightcrawler. Come on boss, we'll sell out this town."  
  
Kurt stared at John. 'What?'  
  
"Alright Kurt. Suit up. We'll put you in as the closing act, after John. Just do the old routine, and if you forget something just improvise, no one will notice." The ringmaster strode off, heading for the big top to check on his first few acts. Poking his head this way and that, he also managed to check every single stand and ensure that it was ready for the hungry customers.  
  
Putting a hand on the middle of the shorter boy's back, John forced him through the door and into the trailer. "Come on Kurt. Time to get you ready for show time."  
  
Kurt's eyes adjusted quickly to the dark and cramped trailer. The male acrobats were all still inside the trailer, putting on their spandex and specially made shoes. They were all knew to the circus, they had entered after Kurt's disappearance. And still, the arrival of the blue fuzzy demon boy didn't faze any of them. They went on about their business, a few giving him polite smiles and hellos.  
  
"Here ya go." A pair of pants were rudely thrown into Kurt's face.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"I hope you haven't put on any weight Kurt. That costume has to still fit."  
  
Taking the pants and attachments off of his head, Kurt walked over to an empty part of the trailer. He wondered why his costume hadn't been thrown out when it became obvious that he wasn't coming back. Shrugging off the thought until later, Kurt stared at the daunting task of getting into his old leather pants.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Thanks a lot. I'll meet you around 8." Kitty slammed the phone down on the hook and ran through the kitchen wall out into the foyer. A few of the X- Men were milling about and trying to find something interesting to do on their Saturday.  
  
"Hey guys! I just got a call from Jean. She was out with Duncan and found out that there's a circus tonight."  
  
"Circus huh? Where is it?" Evan piped up as he strolled in on the conversation. A small crowd was beginning to form, courtesy of it being a boring Saturday.  
  
"Down at the fair grounds. Jean and Duncan are, like, gonna meet us there."  
  
"Okay. I'll go see if anyone else is up for coming." Scott walked up the stairs to find the straggling teenagers who needed something to keep them occupied. In the end, he was disappointed to find that a lot of the newbies were gone. He just hoped that all the vehicles were still inside the mansion, and that they weren't causing too much trouble.  
  
Rogue, Kitty, Evan, Amara, Bobby, and Scott boarded the X-van an hour or two later, planning to meet up with Jean and Duncan at the circus. Scott turned the key, and the van revved into action as they pulled out of the mansion and headed for the fair grounds.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kurt stepped out of the trailer and immediately felt stupid. His costume still fit, much to his chagrin. Maybe if he destroyed the costume, he could get out of doing this. A soft finger poked him in the back and Kurt turned to see Pyro, also sporting his circus costume.  
  
Loose, bell bottom like pants hung low on John's hips. They were black leather, with red and orange flames along the bottom, that swirled with each other up to where his knees where. He wore large boots, black and covered in buckles. Instead of a shirt, a plain black leather vest pretended to cover the boy's chest. He wore a silver chain that hung to his collarbone, a small kanji hanging on it that meant fire.  
  
The breath he was midway to taking caught in Kurt's throat. Pyro's costume was exactly as it had been years ago, and it still made his knees weak.  
  
"What are you staring at?"  
  
"Y-Your hair." Kurt finally snapped out of his trance and realized he was staring at Pyro's red hair, which was spiked elegantly up, leaving just a few gelled strands to hang on his forehead. "Shouldn't you be worried about your hair catching on fire?"  
  
"Ha. The fire couldn't burn my hair unless I let it." Now it was John's turn to let his eyes wander over the devilish costume his counterpart wore.  
  
The black leather pants were tight and made to look scuffed and dirty, but still made Kurt look good, complimenting his long legs. They were torn to shreds around mid-calf, letting the attention be brought to his feet. There were rips on parts of the pants, allowing small tufts of blue fur to poke through. On his chest were two chains, made of light aluminum, that tied to the front and back of his pants, crossing over his chest. A manacle, made of the same lightweight metal was hooked securely to one of his wrists, and the chain from there connected to the ones crossing his chest. Fake black spikes were tied onto Kurt's back with thin pieces of string, completely invisible to an audience member. All they could see were the large triangular spikes that rose from his back and trailed off as they neared the waist of his pants, were his tail poked through a hole in the leather. The finishing touch was a string that was tied behind Kurt's head, with two demonic black horns attached to it. They sat nicely on Kurt's head, protruding right behind his bangs.  
  
"Well, good to see your costume still fits. Now we better go get in position, don't want to miss your cue." John nudged Kurt forward and took him to the performer's entrance on the side of the tent.  
  
"I know where I'm going Pyro." Kurt laughed as the boy's strong hand continued to rest on his back and push him forward.  
  
"You're the finishing act. Same as we used to do, the ringmaster will announce you after my act is done. Just stay out of site until then." John leaned over and gave a small peck on the cheek to the younger mutant. "Break a leg."  
  
Kurt felt strange, like he was leading his friend on, by letting all of these affections be given to him, so he didn't respond to the kiss. His white eyes stared into the darkness of the big top, the seats empty except for the popcorn and hot dog venders preparing for their nightly task.  
  
When the flaps of the tent finally opened, the people who had begun to gather around the big top poured in. Children dragged their parents eagerly forward, impatient for the animals and acrobats. Kurt pulled further into the shadows, his natural ability to hide himself taking over. The clowns entered behind him and tipped their strangely shaped hats at him, before spreading out to entertain the crowd as the big top filled.  
  
"Attention everyone. The Big Top performance will be starting in ten minutes. Please report to the front entrance if you have a ticket. Enjoy the show!" The loudspeaker boomed and echoed across the fields.  
  
Jean looked up as she saw a flash of red and locked eyes with Scott, waving him over. Following Scott was the group, with the exception of Kitty. Scott came up and looked around for the dumb blond football player, but couldn't seem to find him.  
  
"Be nice Scott. And Duncan had to leave, something about his parents needing him to run some errands." Jean grinned. She hadn't meant to, but when Duncan gave the lame excuse and she could sense that he was lying, she did a little probing. Who would have thought that he was deathly afraid of clowns?  
  
"Like, wait up!" Kitty came running up, carrying a huge stick of cotton candy. The bulbous pink blob was teetering back and forth as Kitty picked at it and devoured it.  
  
"Yum. Gimme some." Bobby reached out and found his hand going straight through the cotton candy. Kitty stuck her tongue out and brought the cotton candy out of the Iceman's hand, savoring it in front of the deprived boy.  
  
"Come on guys, we don't wanna miss the show." Evan waved the others forward and the X-Men strode into the dark tent. Kitty stepped over one pair of shoes, then another, but the third pair had it out for her.  
  
"Whoa!" Falling forward she had to phase the cotton candy through a woman's leg. Rogue rolled her eyes and was thankful for the darkness that hid the klutz's mistake. She reached down and forcefully pulled the girl up, pushing her back into the line as they found seats for the whole group. Sitting down on the hard wooden bench, the lights began to darken into pitch black as the show was about to start. Music filtered through the people, changing it's pace and pitch to fit each act.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kurt wrung his hands nervously. Pyro's act was about to begin, which meant that there was only one left before his turn. His tail was tapping against the nearby wall, unable to stop, like a twitch. The thunderous voice of the ringmaster brought his attention, along with everyone else's, to the center ring.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen. If any of you have weak hearts or stomachs, I suggest you leave now. Now, presenting the impossible, the improbable, the inflammable himself. The fire charmer. ......Pyro!"  
  
The lights all went out at exactly the same moment, and only one small point of light remained in the center of the big top. It was small and orange, and flickered with the slightest breath of wind. It moved back and forth, like a small nervous animal. Up and down, side to side, it danced around the ring, enthralling everyone in it's seeming innocence.  
  
The circus gasped, as the flame exploded in a huge fireball and fell to the ground of the ring. It raced outwards, stopping at the edge of the ring and toning itself down. The fire stayed along the ground, not careening upwards as it had in the explosion. In the center, a thin figure stood with his arms outstretched and his head held down. The crowd wooed together as the figure lifted his head and looked around the entire big top.  
  
The boy reached down to his feet and picked up three batons, each with a white cloth on the end of it. The crowd watched intently as the boy knelt down and patted his hand on his knee, as if calling a dog to himself. The fire formed a path and spread to him, stopping obediently in front of him. The crowd awed and applauded as he lit the ends of all three batons and sent the fire back into the circle with a flick of his wrist.  
  
The flaming ends of the batons flew threw the air and twirled to make circles of orange and gold in the air as Pyro began to juggle them all. To the crowd, it appeared that he was such a good juggler that he could perform difficult tricks, like throwing one up into the air and catching it behind his back without looking. But to Kurt and the other circus performers, they knew that he was constantly touching the fire on the batons. Even if he had put one of the batons in a puddle of gasoline, it wouldn't have started a fire since he had complete control over it.  
  
Catching all three batons and holding them up, John waited for the applause to quiet down. Then he smirked and hung his head back, staring up into the top of the tent. Slowly, he brought the baton over his mouth, the flickering flame hanging a few inches from his mouth. The crowd gasped and watched with wide eyes as he lowered the baton into his mouth and closed around it. When his mouth opened again, only the smoldering remains of a fire left his mouth. He continued and did this with each until two snuffed out batons were on the floor and he only had one flame left.  
  
Pyro gathered the crowd's attention and softly stroked the fire, barely touching it. Then, he hung his head once and again and extinguished the fire in his mouth. This time though, he took the baton out and closed his mouth fast, throwing the baton to the ground but pointing to his cheeks when the crowd tried to applaud.  
  
Pyro breathed out and a huge flame burst out of his mouth, causing the crowd to jump back in alarm. But the fire disappeared into the air as quickly as it had come and the audience went wild.  
  
John motioned to the performers entrance to the ring and a small girl, dressed in orange with red and gold feathers on the back of her costume, trailing her like a wedding gown's train. She smiled and waved to the crowd before approaching the ring which was still on fire.  
  
John snapped his fingers and the fire created an opening for her to step through, then quickly sealed her in again. She moved sensually towards Pyro, but as she approached him, the fire of the ring raced out and created a wall between them. She pretended to try and break through the wall, but recoiled from the heat. Extending his hand, the fire swirled around the girl, creating a wall around her. Gasps escaped the mouths of the nervous crowd, but Kurt leaned against the wall, too engrossed in the look on John's face as he was in his element.  
  
Using his pyrokinesis to it's limit, Pyro's green eyes became solid orange as the fire swirled up and completely encased his "lovely assistant". Then the fire returned, creating a small dome over the girl. He could tell by the sounds and whispers in the audience that they worried for the girl's safety.  
  
Strolling up the small dome of fire, Pyro extended his hands over it and threw his arms apart to the sides. The excess flames flew back to the circle around them, leaving a form on the floor. As the fire stood up, it attained the shape of the beautiful young girl, made completely of fire. She walked forward and extended her hand, cupping Pyro's face as he leaned into her touch. Then he took her hand, holding it in the air as he reached down with his free hand and touched the ground.  
  
The fire that remained around the outside of the ring rushed at him, making a straight line for him and leaving the outside of the ring and every part of the big top black. It crawled up his arms and his legs, engulfing him slowly. Now the audience sounded truly scared as they watched with their own eyes as the fire spread on his body.  
  
Covering the last inches of him, the only light in the entire circus came from the two bodies, made completely of fire standing in the center of the ring, their hands still entwined and held up for all to see. The drumbeat of the music pulsed louder and faster, becoming crazed and unpredictable. With the climax of the song, and on the final drumbeat, Pyro turned to the girl and put his hand on her hip, pulling her in for an abrupt kiss. As soon as their lips touched, the fire spread out in a brief but magnificent flame and disappeared, throwing the entire tent back into pitch black.  
  
The applause was deafening from the crowd as it roared and people screamed and whistled for the amazing young fire charmer. The lights came back on, and both John and the girl stood in the center of the ring, completely unscathed as they took a bow to the crowd and walked off towards the performer's entrance as the ringmaster returned to his place.  
  
"Well my friends, on a normal night, that amazing performance by our resident fire charmer would have been our closing act. But tonight, and tonight only, we have a special offer for you folks. The return of our most popular act of all time. I must urge you, stay in your seats during this entire act and please ......don't be afraid." The ringmaster lowered his voice at the end of this, sounded sinister and frightening with his low grating voice.  
  
"Presenting.....the amazing Nightcrawler!"  
  
Kurt took a deep breath and ported.  
  
The X-Men's jaw's and the lights both dropped at the same time.  
  
"Hey, someone stole Kurt's name." Amara whispered to Bobby.  
  
"Yeah man. He should sue." Evan piped in.  
  
Jean had a bad feeling about this, and Scott did as well. Both stared intently towards the center ring, trying to pick out anything in the darkness.  
  
The spotlight turned on and focused in on the center of the ring. Nothing was there. The crowd muttered in confusion and the spotlight seemed to feel the same. It began to swing around, focusing on other parts of the ring, and even onto members of the audience who giggled and smiled, looking embarrassed. After a few more swings, the light returned to the center of the ring and then slowly began to climb directly up the side of the tent.  
  
Reaching the center of the ceiling, it stopped on a blue figure, hanging onto the tent like a gecko.  
  
"What the hell...." Scott halfway stood up out of surprise, but Jean quickly grabbed him and sat him down.  
  
With a bamf and a cloud of smoke, Kurt landed on the center of the ring. The spotlight followed him perfectly now, the routine being the same as it had been years ago. He stood on all fours, swaying his tail above him to bring attention to it. He was crouched down like an animal, and let his fangs be bared. Then he took off running on all fours and did a forward flip in midair, landing on the edge of the ring.  
  
There, he stood up, purposely rattling the chains to draw attention to them.  
  
"We have to get him out of here." Rogue leaned over and whispered to Scott. He nodded and was about to get up when Jean again forced him back into his seat.  
  
"No Scott. That will just bring attention to him and us. Let the people think it's just a costume and parlor tricks." Rogue huffed loudly and crossed her arms angrily. She didn't like the way Kurt was letting himself be gawked at like this.  
  
With another puff of blue smoke, Kurt was suddenly crouching on the trapeze platform. The spotlight showed him and a drum role began. Spreading his arms and tail out, Kurt stepped forward and leapt off the platform into midair. He hung suspended for a second as the crowd gasped before he fell like a rock, head first towards the ground. The wing whipped his hair back and for a second he was afraid that his horns would be pulled off. Ten feet from the ground, he teleported and the blue smoke was thrown into the ground of the center ring, leaving the audience confused again.  
  
A few seconds later, Kurt appeared, standing perfectly straight and unharmed in the middle of the center ring.  
  
"There he is!" A man in a uniform shouted from the one of the guest entrances. He had dark sunglasses and a police hat over his head, hiding his identity from the crowd. The very sharp ones may have noticed his massive size and connected him with the Strong Man they had seen outside and the animal tamer that had performed not an hour earlier. John, and two other men stepped up as well, all in police uniforms and carrying clubs.  
  
Kurt looked from one to the other, turning in circles and growling like a wild animal. They approached him slowly, but once all four had him surrounded around the ring, they rushed at him, clubs held high.  
  
He ported and all four ended up smacking against each other and coughing in the cloud of sulfur. They looked around before hearing someone blowing raspberries at them. They all looked to the now spotlighted entranceway, where Nightcrawler hung over the doorway, sticking his tongue out at them. They rushed at him again, but when they were a few feet away he leapt from the wall and spun over their heads, landing behind them and doing back flips all the way back into the center of the ring.  
  
The four rounded on the demonic mutant slowly, and Pyro stepped forward, tapping his club against his hand in a warning. Kurt just stood up and began to circle him. John rushed forward, brandishing his club like a sword, but Kurt easily jumped into the air above him and landed feather soft on top of his head. John slammed himself against the floor, feigning unconsciousness from the supposedly hard hit.  
  
Landing on all fours, Kurt bared his sharp fangs and flashed his white eyes at the three remaining officers. Two rushed at him, both thing acrobats, and one tried to tackle him around his stomach. The turned and grabbed the man's arms by his tail, flinging him around with a quick turn of his waist. He ended up on top of John's body, lying still as well.  
  
The other man who had charged tried to punch Kurt, but only found his fist in the remains of a teleported mutant. Kurt appeared in the air behind him and kicked him the back with his powerful legs as he fell, sending the man to join the growing pile.  
  
The last man was the Strong Man, easily twice the size of Kurt and just as much wide. The two danced around each other, Kurt lashing his tail out and causing a few gasps from the crowd every time he did. The music began to pulse louder and louder as the fight dragged on. The hulking man finally raced at him, and Kurt leapt up, putting his hands on the man's shoulders and springing over him, landing behind him in a crouch position.  
  
The two turned to face each other again and Nightcrawler took off at a gallop at the man. He looked frightened then put his arms up to guard himself and looked determined to stand his ground. Kurt's large toes thumped against the ground and his chains rattled as he propelled himself forward. Then his powerful legs sprung and he threw himself directly at his foe.  
  
In the last second, Kurt disappeared again. The Strong Man stood up and scratched his head in confusion before an audible bamf echoed through the circus. Kurt hung in midair behind the man and grabbed him around the waist from behind and fell onto his back, throwing the man over his head to land on the top of the pile.  
  
Panting and standing on all fours, Nightcrawler slowly made his way to the pile of men and stood up as he stepped onto the top of it. Looking around to the crowd one last time, Kurt reached down and placed his three fingered hands onto the man's chest and concentrated. All five disappeared and the crowd cheered to the empty ring and tent.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
::Sigh::: sorry that took so long. School just ended, so you can expect more and more often. ^_^ I hope you liked it. The whole Pyro act was kinda inspired by me watching a lot of Cirque De Soleil lately. They're so cool and artistic. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Review. Hehe, please? 


	5. Suspicions

"WE DID IT!" Kurt leapt up into Pyro's arms, who gladly caught the elfish boy and swung him around.   
  
"You were great. The whole crowd loved you." Pyro's shining green eyes seemed to make Kurt feel warmer, even standing in the breezy night. Having teleported behind the big top, Kurt and the others were getting out of their costumes and relaxing after completing another show.   
  
White eyes pierced through the darkness like it was daylight, and Kurt watched as the people exited the circus. They all smiled and talked loudly with each other, being pushed along in the mass of humanity that rushed for the exit.   
  
Soft hands lay on Kurt's shoulders, and he turned to see John, still grinning.   
  
"Thanks John. Without you, I know I couldn't have done it." 'We'll be there for you.' Feeling a pang of guilt at turning to someone else for help, Kurt finally remember that the X-Men were bound to have realized he was gone.   
  
"I really should go home..."   
  
John looked at Kurt, his smile forced and unnatural.   
  
"Home to who?"  
  
"To the people I'm staying with. They're...kind of like a family to me." Kurt couldn't look John in the eyes and pretended to be interested in some of the people exiting the big top. But Pyro's eyes were boring into the back of his skull and he eventually had to turn and face him.   
  
"I'm sorry John. I just really need to go home. It's been great, but..." Kurt gnawed on his bottom lip, unsure of how to put it. The circus was his old family, he thought he had put it behind him, moved on. But now, being back here, he had fallen into the role of the demon again.   
  
"Okay, but can I ask you a favor first?"  
  
Kurt nodded hesitantly.   
  
"You go back to these people, and then come back here tonight. Just for tonight, sleep with me."   
  
"Wha-" Kurt made a strange choking noise in his throat and stumbled back, looking utterly confused.   
  
"Not like that." Pyro laughed and lightly slapped Kurt's forehead. "I mean stay in the room with me tonight, so I can help you with your nightmares. Give you a dose so you can go back home and not worry about it."   
  
His heart pounding wildly, Kurt managed a wide eyes nod. John had never been a very subtle person to begin with, and when they had lived at the circus together, it had always been Kurt finding convenient excuses to not be alone. 'But if it keeps me under control...I guess I could spare one night.'   
  
"Okay. I'll be back here at 1. Wait for me outside the trailers."   
  
Pyro smiled and leaned forward, giving Kurt a small kiss on his forehead. Kurt smiled and then wandered off a ways, until he was at the edge of the forest. With a quick wave of his hand, Kurt began the system of teleportations that would lead him back to the mansion.   
  
************  
  
Scott and the other X-Men sat slack jawed in the benches long after everyone else had emptied out of the big top.   
  
"I-I just can't believe it. Like, why would he DO that?" Kitty stood up and began to pace back and forth down her aisle, clearly worried.   
  
"She's got a point. I mean, Kurt never goes anywhere without his projector, why would he purposely pretend to be a demon. Man!" Evan slammed his fist down on the wooden benches and earned a strange glance from the circus workers who were cleaning up a few rows up.   
  
"Yeah. It's like he's in a freak show. Maybe someone's makin him do it?" Rogue looked over at Jean. The red head seemed oblivious of what was happening and just stared back at the girl.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Check and make sure the elf isn't bein controlled." Rogue rolled her eyes and looked unusually pleased with herself, stealing a glance at Scott to see if he had noticed.   
  
"I can't Rogue. Kurt specifically asked the professor and I not to read his mind."  
  
Bobby sprung up so suddenly that he caused Amara to leap up in her chair. He smiled apologetically to her then rounded on Jean.   
  
"You don't have to read his mind. What if you just skimmed it a bit?"   
  
"I don't know..."  
  
"Come on Jean." Evan leaned towards her, grinning from ear to ear.   
  
"Yeah Jean, just to make sure he's not like dead or anything." It was amazing how Evan, Bobby, and Kitty could get into exactly the same position, with the same pleading grin.   
  
"Go ahead Jean. Just enough to make sure he's safe." Scott nodded to her and Jean felt better. As long as it was an order from their leader, it was fine.   
  
Putting her fingers up to the sides of her head, Jean closed her eyes and her lips became pursed together in concentration.   
  
"Why do all psychics do that when they read minds? Does it make a difference or something?" Amara whispered into Rogue's ear. The older girl just shrugged.   
  
"Wow." Jean's hand went back to her lap and her eyes shot open.   
  
"What is it?" Scott stood up, at the ready for the command to save his friend.   
  
"He's...happy. Very happy. Ecstatic even."  
  
"What?" For some reason, Scott sounded a little unhappy about Kurt's joy.  
  
"And he ain't bein controlled?"   
  
"No Rogue. He's just...enjoying himself."  
  
"I don't like this." Kitty stood up. "I say we go and talk to him. Find out what's up."   
  
"Well, he has to come back to the institute sometime right?" Amara said softly. Scott nodded to her.   
  
"Amara has a good point, we can ask the Professor what to do about it, and if we do confront Kurt, we should do it when he comes home."   
  
The X-Men nodded to their leader and finally left the big top, heading back home through the quiet summer night.   
  
************  
  
Kurt stood at the refrigerator, hungry as always. 'Chicken. Too small. Roast. For dinner tomorrow night. Hmm...ah-ha!'   
  
Wolverine smelled something strange coming from the kitchen and peered around the door. Nightcrawler was hanging upside down from the ceiling, over the stove, with a skewer in each hand and foot. On each metal skewer were about five marshmallows.   
  
"ELF!"   
  
Kurt jumped from the scare and nearly lost the hold his tail had on the ceiling fan. He looked sheepishly at Logan, and held out his left foot, putting the skewer up to his nose.   
  
"Would you like a roasted mallow?"   
  
"No. And if you keep that up, you'll be the one roasting." Scowling, the older mutant stalked away. Kurt just watched him go, not sure how anyone could turn down a free toasted marshmallow.   
  
Taking his many marshmallows, Kurt jumped down from the ceiling and walked out into the lobby of the mansion. It was quiet, almost everyone was still out even though it was getting late.   
  
Curling his tail under him, Kurt sat down on the couch and began the arduous task of getting each marshmallow of his hot metal skewers. The sticky white marshmallow was causing him problems as he tried to eat it. The blue fur around his mouth wasn't helping either.   
  
His pointed ears perked up as he heard footsteps approaching the front door. The doors opened and a warm night breeze ruffled Kurt's fur as a large group of the X-Men entered.   
  
Scott nodded to the blue mutant before making a beeline for the stairs. Bobby followed quickly after him. Kitty yelled a quick hello before heading for the kitchen with Spike and Amara.   
  
"Hello Kurt. How was your day?" Jean was the first to truly speak to him, and smiled as she did so. Rogue snorted behind her and stomped up towards where Scott had gone. Jean just ignored Rogue's hissy fit and looked back at Kurt, cocking her head to the side as she waited for an answer.   
  
"Umm...kinda dull. I just went down to town for a while." Kurt lied and went back to gnawing on his mallows.   
  
"Okay." Jean seemed content with this answer and wandered slowly off to some part of the mansion.   
  
Kurt got the distinct feeling that he was being ignored, and, being Kurt, decided to find out why.   
  
A cloud of smoke later, Kurt was standing at an opposite end of the mansion, the direction Scott and Rogue had headed. Crawling along the wall, Kurt didn't even have to control his mutant powers. His feet and fingers instantly stuck to the surface, and his tail balanced his body as it traveled along. Sometimes he forgot how good it felt to be seen for what he was, even if that was a demon.   
  
************  
  
"So what do we do professor?" Scott sat in the soft armchair, looking into the fire as he told Professor Xavier all that had happened that day. Rogue lounged against the doorway and put in her two cents every now and then, to the professor who sat serenely in the center of the room, his head propped up on his hands.   
  
"I can't read his mind. And neither can Jean. We must respect his wishes. In all honesty, I'm not too worried about him."  
  
"What?" Rogue stepped fully into the room, confronting the professor. "He was put out there like a freak show, for people to stare at and call a demon. How can you not be worried about him? And the dream thing."   
  
"We are all concerned for Nightcrawlers well being, I assure you Rogue. But everyone in this institute is guaranteed a right to privacy. Being mutants, we all have our personal demons to face. And most would prefer to do so alone."  
  
Rogue understood the tone in the professor's voice and gave him a quick nod of understanding before heading for the door. She could hear the heavier footsteps of Scott behind her as they exited the study and closed the heavy wooden doors.   
  
"What's up?"   
  
"AH!" Rogue jumped up in the air and clutched her hand over her chest. Scott looked a little startled, but was naturally less jumpy than Rogue.   
  
"Don't EVER do that." She growled at Kurt, who was on all fours...on the wall. He tilted his head towards her, so that she was no longer sidewise.   
  
"Sorry. I didn't know you'd be coming out of that door."   
  
Scott looked quickly at Rogue, and could tell that she had just had the same thought. If Kurt had heard what they were talking about...  
  
"So what are you up to?" Nightcrawler noticed how nervous Scott seemed while asking this. His voice was slow, as if he was expecting something.   
  
'It must be because of what happened. They're still all afraid of me. I bet he thinks I was on my way to kill him and the others.' Kurt leapt lightly to the floor and grinned up at them, being unusually cheerful, even for himself.   
  
'He must have heard us talking to the professor. If there really is something wrong with him, he might take his anger out on us.' Scott tensed up, but didn't take a step back from being face to face with the blue mutant.   
  
"Just going for a walk, but I think I'll go to sleep now. Night." All that was left of him was a puff of smoke and the smell of brimstone.   
  
"Do you think he was listening?"   
  
"I don't know Rogue. I trust the professor, but I think we may have to take matters into our own hands. Get the group that was at the circus today and bring them to my room." Rogue nodded and began to walk down a corridor. "Oh and Rogue?" She turned around. "Don't let Kurt notice, okay?"   
  
Rogue snorted and continued down the hall, obviously insulted by the request. Scott just laughed and headed for his room.   
  
Twenty minutes later, Rogue, Bobby, Amara, Evan, Kitty, Jean, and Scott were suited up and sitting in various places in Scott's room.   
  
"So how are we gonna help Kurt?" Evan demanded, stoked and ready to go in guns blazing and save his friend.   
  
"We have to." Rogue stood by him, nervously glancing out the window every now and then, as if someone were spying on their plans.   
  
"Okay, but how do we help him?" Amara piped in.   
  
"Yeah, she's got a point. What are we gonna do?" Kitty and the other all turned to Scott, their leader, even though he was as clueless in this as they were.   
  
"Do we have any ideas?" A diplomat to the end.   
  
"We could ask him about it. He may have a good reason." Jean finally spoke, but seemed hesitant about even doing that. She could sense a strange feeling coming from the boy, ever since the night he had attacked them. And then, she could see straight into his mind. There were no clear images or memory, it was unlike any mind she had ever read before.   
  
"If he had wanted us to know about it, he woulda told us."   
  
"Kitty has a point. Okay, well, the circus is the key here, right? Maybe we should go down there and search for clues?" Scott's brilliant idea had fizzled into a Scooby Doo episode before his eyes.   
  
"Uhhh, guys?"   
  
Everyone turned to Jean, who had suddenly stood up. Her eyes were glazed over, and she was staring out into nothing. Rogue looked at Evan and twirled her finger around her head. Evan laughed, and caused Jean to loose her psychotic image.   
  
"He's on the move."  
  
"What?" Jean stepped back at the shouts, and everyone began hushing each other after the sudden outbreak.   
  
"Okay, where is he going?" Scott whispered.   
  
"He's porting. It's hard to get a fix on him. But I'd say he's heading south."   
  
"The circus is south." Bobby yelled, and everyone shushed him just as loudly.   
  
"Move out. We'll follow him there and keep an eye on him, but just enough to make sure he's safe."   
  
The X-Men nodded and decided that all the vehicles would have made too much noise and woken up the entire mansion, so they decided to hoof it. The fair grounds were no more than 5 miles away, so they began to ran, fly, skateboard, and slide their way there.   
  
Panting, Kitty looked over at Scott and grimaced. "Like, can't those of us without good means of transportation at least have grabbed a bike or something?"  
  
Rogue nodded vigorously and glared at Bobby as he created loops of ice and slid along them like a roller coaster.   
  
"I wish I could fly."   
  
Scott just shook his head as they slowed down and approached the darkened fair grounds.   
  
************  
  
Sorry this took a while. I am working on three very in depth stories right now, so I'm doing large updates that are few and far between. But don't worry, there's only one more chapter of this fic. And it's a big one. ^_^ leave a review! 


	6. Into the Fire

Kurt walked across the empty fair grounds, and realized just how creepy they could get after the circus. The big top was huge and menacing in the distance, and every small breeze sent parts of the canvas moving, like ghosts in the night.  
  
Thankful for some of his night vision, Kurt ran on all fours to the back of the tent, where the trailers all stood dark and quiet, as the circus performers got a good night's sleep. Sticking to the shadows of the trailers, Kurt scanned the area but couldn't find the troublesome red head he was looking for.  
  
"Pyro?" He hissed out as he stood up and walked to the middle of the clearing the pyrokinetic had made earlier. Still no sign of him however.  
  
"John!" He whispered more urgently. Looking at his watch/inducer, he saw that it was 1:10. Nightcrawler bit his lip and looked around, hoping this wasn't one of John's 'jokes'.  
  
Someone grabbed Kurt's tail and yanked on it....hard. The boy yelped and jumped into the air, before turning around and preparing to attack the person. John smiled and pressed one finger to Kurt's lips.  
  
"Don't be so loud. You'll wake everyone up." His green eyes were playfully dark and exotic in the night, and he turned away before Kurt could even yell at him.  
  
"Wait up." His soft feet padding along on the ground, Kurt caught up to the deceptively fast young boy just as he was approaching his trailer.  
  
"Welcome to my humble abode." John threw open the small door and gestured inside. Remembering his many nights spent in a trailer identical to this one, Kurt leapt directly into the room, hands first. Pyro just rolled his eyes and flipped on a light, before the elf boy could run into anything and break it.  
  
Nightcrawler stopped and looked around. The trailer really was humble. There was a bed on one side, and a mattress on the floor next to it. A set of drawers were bolted to the opposite wall, and a single light bulb swung from the ceiling. The floor was soft and had a thick carpeting on it, and Kurt immediately took advantage of this and flopped down onto it.  
  
"Uh....I put out the futon, since I figured you might rather stay there." Pyro seemed to have become the jittery one and leaned against a wall, to keep from having to find a place to sit in his cramped room. Kurt also seemed to shift around on the floor a little more than usual. His tail curled and uncurled, and he found everything in the room except John suddenly very interesting. When he had first come with the circus, John had needed to stay in bed with Kurt every night, to cover up the memories of the fire. After a while, the nightmares stopped altogether, but Pyro and Nightcrawler remained sleeping together.  
  
Though he would never admit it to anyone, Kurt knew that that was one of the reasons he so readily went to see Professor Xavier. John was a flirt, no doubt about it, but he wanted to have something with Kurt that was too serious for the younger boy. And he had discovered long ago that John's temper was not the best, and preferred to not unduly upset him.  
  
Breaking the uncomfortable silence, Kurt yawned. Pyro just laughed at him and finally stopped lurking against the far wall of the trailer.  
  
"You better get some sleep."  
  
"Yeah. Sure." It had been too long since Kurt had had a decent night's sleep, and he quickly pulled off the jacket he was wearing. Underneath he had on a white tank top and a pair of light blue boxers.  
  
Following suit, Pyro stripped down till there was nothing on but his boxers. On his boxers, were pictures of tiny boxers. Kurt pointed and laughed. (A/N: I knew a guy with these kind of boxers. Underwear with pictures of underwear, brilliant! ^_^ )  
  
"Those are the best man."  
  
"Yeah yeah. Now get to sleep. I can't very well help you if you won't go to sleep."  
  
Kurt crept into his bed, stretching out as far as he could on the small mattress, before rolling over and looking up at John. Well, to say he was looking at Pyro was an overstatement; all he could see was a hand. Kurt knew that he couldn't ponder things all night long and pulled the blankets tight up to his chin, and closed his eyes.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Ouch!" Evan rubbed his foot which Bobby had just stepped on.  
  
"Sorry man. It's too dark out here."  
  
Magma flicked one of her fingers and it glowed with lava. She smiled at the two boys and walked forward, unaware of the tongues being stuck out at her from behind.  
  
"Keep that light low Amara. We don't want to wake anyone up." Jean still had the unsettling feeling that they shouldn't be doing this. Kurt had his rights, and she didn't want to be taking advantage of them. But then she remembered when her powers went out of control. She didn't tell anyone, didn't let anyone help her. And for it, she nearly killed the people closest to her.  
  
"Jean, can you tell where he is?"  
  
"Yes. He's back behind the big top. His mind is very calm, I'll bet he's asleep."  
  
"Well, if he's asleep then he probably doesn't need our help right now, right?" Amara asked hopefully.  
  
"Maybe. Jean, Kitty, you two go and see if you can find out where he is. If it looks at all suspicious, contact us and we'll back you up."  
  
Jean and Kitty nodded to Scott and began to tip toe around the big top, Jean leading the way to where she could sense Nightcrawler.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Pyro gently raised an eye, just high enough to glance at the boy on the floor. His chest rose softly and John had a pretty good idea that he was asleep.  
  
Easing himself off of the bed, he placed his feet on the floor, fearing that it would creak and wake his sleeping friend. But it was silent and the red head let out a sigh of relief before lowering himself to the floor next to the mattress, achingly slow.  
  
Kurt rolled over in his sleep and John froze. But the blue mutant was deep in a dream and didn't notice as the older boy lowered his weight onto the futon. Lifting up the light covers, he crawled into the bed next to Kurt. He could feel his tail twitching slightly under the covers, but knew that it did that whenever Kurt was dreaming.  
  
Snaking his arm around the sleeping mutant, John felt the soft fur of his arm and the roughness of his cotton shirt. After getting comfortable, he let his eyes close and tried to sense if Kurt was dreaming about the night he was nearly burned to death.  
  
Pyro realized that there was no fire anywhere in Kurt's mind, meaning he wasn't doing any good. With a small smile, Pyro whispered an apology and lit a match. Using his pyrokinesis, he let the fire hover in front of Kurt's face, and he made it produce as much thick black smoke as he could. With a jerk, Nightcrawler was thrown into the dream John had intended.  
  
John connected with the fire in Kurt's mind, and controlled it. It bent to the will of it's master, immediately obeying his commands.  
  
The nightmare was confusing, and went too fast to make any sense. First there was nothing but flashes of fire, and Kurt's horrific screams. Then there were the villagers who had tried to kill him, throwing rocks and holding torches. Pyro could do nothing to Kurt, couldn't comfort him in any way. He was the fire.  
  
The scene was different than it had originally been, the fire was more vicious, and Kurt was definitely conscious this time. His horrified screams cut into John like a knife as he watched the fire burn his legs. With a flash of his powers, the fires suddenly subsided in the dream, and John felt Kurt's body in real life stop thrashing. The inferno surrounding the boy settled down to a few smoldering embers. Pyro then began to use his powers, cautiously, to bring a small flame closer and closer to Kurt. The other mutant still struggled and fought against his bonds, unable to escape from a situation that in reality would have been a synch. Feeling it couldn't hurt at all, John began to whisper very softly into the blue elf ears his friend was so well known for. Nightcrawler could swear that the small flame that danced enticingly towards him was speaking to him.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Well Jean?" Kitty stood looking at the dozen or so identical trailers. With a hand on her hip, she motioned with her other hand for Jean to hurry up already.  
  
"I don't know, for a while there his mind was very active, but now it's harder to pinpoint." Closing her eyes, the red head's hand slowly began to move across the line of trailers, finally deciding on a small one to the right.  
  
"That one?"  
  
"Yes. I'm sure of it."  
  
"Right. Like, let's get this over with and rescue Kurt already, this place is totally creeping me out."  
  
Kitty led the way towards the small trailer, and took Jean's wrist in a firm grasp when they were right on the outside. Very slowly, the two of them walked through the trailer. Inside it was pitch black, being all the circus could afford, the trailers didn't come with windows.  
  
A small light flickered on the floor, and Kitty and Jean tip toed their way towards it, but it was hidden from them, since they had phased into the trailer and right onto the bed. The two girls lay down on the bed and began to inch their way forward, just barely poking their head over the edge of the mattress.  
  
Pyro eased the flame towards Kurt, trying to get him to accept the flame. Giving this painful chapter of Kurt's past a more pleasant ending. Unable to control the scattered images and people of the dream, Pyro did what he could with the fire. A familiar figure began to take shape out of the fire, and Kurt recognized spiky hair, that certain height, and the small build of the pyrokinetic.  
  
The fire Pyro walked up, and even as he did this, Nightcrawler kicked out in his sleep and his tail began to whip around dangerously, freed from the covers. John intended to have the fire free Kurt, and destroy his fear of fire, knowing that he would be happier if he could possibly think that things had been different that night in Germany.  
  
Kitty's blue eyes grew impossibly wide in the darkness. Had there been more than the small flame held in John's hand to light the room, she would have seen Jean's eyes go equally huge, and her jaw hang open.  
  
The two had finally gotten a glimpse of the only occupants of the trailer, a red headed boy with his arms and legs wrapped around a struggling Kurt. But every now and then, as most do in a nightmare, his body would go limp, and he would be once again sleeping in the arms of John, his tail curling itself around the other's ankle for comfort.  
  
Needless to say, this was not what the girl's had expected.  
  
"WHA-" Jean immediately slapped her hand over Kitty's mouth, but it was too late. The noise had roused both boys. Pyro's icy green eyes met with the girl's, and the fire in his hand spread to an raging fireball, that hovered in the air, like a miniature sun.  
  
But Nightcrawler noticed this all as well. Still trapped in his nightmare, Kurt's eyes flew open, glowing the horrific and unearthly yellow they had the night he attacked the X-Men. John was vaguely aware of what Kurt was seeing in his dream. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.  
  
Two of the faceless villagers abruptly became a tall red head, and a small girl with her hair tied in a ponytail. And the fire had become the very flames of hell, all intent on destroying Kurt's body and very well burning his soul to ashes in the process.  
  
Kurt screamed. Then he flipped over, landing on all fours as only he could do, and leapt viciously at the two girls who were trying to kill him. Kitty quickly grabbed onto Jean's shoulder and Nightcrawler leapt harmlessly through them, slamming into the side of the trailer. The girls booked it as fast as they could out of the trailer, into the sweet night air.  
  
'Scott! Come quick!' Not in a mood to mince words, the shaken Jean Grey sprinted into the open field, hoping the other X-Men would arrive soon. With a bamf, Kurt was falling from above, but Jean had sensed the teleport and put up a shield, deflecting the boy down to the ground. Baring his teeth, he snarled at them and began to circle them, on all fours and his hands and feet digging into the soft ground.  
  
"I suggest you get away from him." A low menacing voice came from behind Kitty and before either could react, they were surrounded by a wall of flame. Kurt hissed and teleported onto the big top. The soft canvas sunk a little under the light weight of the boy, and only his black outline and golden eyes could be seen.  
  
Kitty saw that the boy who had been holding Kurt in the trailer had both hands held out and as he motioned one way or another, the fire obeyed him. It took her a second, since he no longer had the slicked up hair or the spiffy costume, but she finally caught on and realized it was the fire tamer from the circus.  
  
"I don't know why you're here, but I won't let you hurt him." The flames grew higher and too close for comfort, as Kitty could feel the heat like it was an actual physical thing pressing onto her.  
  
"And we won't let you hurt them either." There was a red flash, and the dirt behind Jean exploded, putting out that half of the fire ring and giving them an opportunity to escape. Pyro put his hand up to guard his eyes, and the flames died down, returning to his feet like a faithful pet.  
  
Scott and the other X-Men were ready and in formation, prepared to take on any unknown attacker. Or known attacker as the case may be. Another teleportation and Kurt was hurtling towards Rogue. At the last second he turned his shoulder to her face and sent her flying back at least ten feet.  
  
Without a hair touching the ground, Nightcrawler teleported again, swinging his legs to trip Evan.  
  
"Man. That is not cool." Spike hurled a wooden stake at the blue mutant, but it was easily dodged.  
  
"Why are you people after him?" John yelled out, even as he sent the fire to isolate Kurt and himself from the others.  
  
"We're his friends. We're here to get him back." Bobby said, stepping boldly closer to the heat.  
  
"How do you know the Nightcrawler?"  
  
"He lives with us. At the Xavier Institute." Scott seemed to take a distinct disliking to this boy, and his hand never left his visor for a second.  
  
"Xavier." If the X-Men hadn't known any better, they would have thought this word was a curse with the way Pyro spat it out. "He's the guy who told Kurt that he needed to be put in a home for mutants." The fire flared red as its master's angry increased slowly. Kurt paced back and forth, like a tiger in a cage before the wall of flames. The nightmare still had him in it's grip, and although the fire had been made more appealing by the bit of work John had done, the X-Men remained melded together with the images of Kurt's would be murderers.  
  
"It's not like that. You're a mutant too, you understand how it is." Jean stepped closer to the pyrokinetic, as she could now definatley sense that he was a mutant. She put up her hands in a placating gesture, hoping to calm the boy's temper.  
  
"But I'm not a wuss. And neither is Kurt."  
  
"Wuss?" Rogue had shaken her head and Amara had helped her up, and now it looked like she was ready for round two.  
  
"Nightcrawler and I have never hidden our powers. Never hidden like little mice just because we're mutants. And humans accept us."  
  
"Yeah, as a freak show." Rogue threw back.  
  
Pyro's eyes flashed dangerously, and he held out his hand. A fireball formed in it and he sent it hurling straight towards Rogue. Amara powered up and threw her own smaller fireball towards Pyro's, doing just enough to knock it off course and harmlessly into the ground.  
  
"We are NOT a freak show."  
  
Kurt's mutant ears perked up. 'Freak. Freak. Demon. Devil. Mutant.' His fierce eyes turned on John and he leapt at him. Kurt's hands struck Pyro square in the chest and the two fell to the ground, but John used his feet to toss Kurt over him. When they both stood up he met Kurt's unfocused eyes and tried to talk some sense into him.  
  
"Kurt, I'm not your enemy. You know that. Come on, wake up!" But the blue mutant only shook his head viciously and began to cling to it, as if he had a terrible headache that refused to ebb away. John immediately went to his side and put a hand on his back.  
  
"Forgive me." One single flame darted through the air and struck across Kurt's shoulder, just barely searing his skin. His eyes snapped to John's face, and were white again. His body began to shake and he fell into his friend's arms.  
  
Having lost his concentration on his powers, all of the fire had died down and were again just a few stray flames on pieces of grass that hadn't quite been turned to dust yet.  
  
John tilted Kurt's head up to his, meeting his eyes and giving him a small smile. Kurt returned a weak one and finally felt the effects of the nightmare, feeling like his body was ready to simply fall apart on him. Never one to be discouraged by a crowd, John leaned down a few inches and touched Kurt's as soft as he could ever have done, but Kurt jerked away like the kiss had burned him far worse than the fire.  
  
Pyro saw him staring in horror at the X-Men, who had approached the two in worry. Kurt felt like he was again plunged into the nightmare, ready to welcome back the fire and the stake, but not the stares of his friends.  
  
Embarrassed beyond reason, Kurt pushed John violently away and stood up. The hurt in his friend's green eyes was only matched by the sudden rush of anger.  
  
"I see. Sorry Kurt, but I just got you back and I'm not letting you go without a fight."  
  
"I think it's time you cooled down buddy." Bobby raised his hand and began to send blasts of ice at all the remaining flames, putting them out quickly. But Pyro was always prepared, and took out the box of matches he had with him in bed, striking one before Jean used her power to throw the box up into the air and away from him.  
  
The fire spread around them, forcing them to be separated, and each used as much of their powers as they could to stop it. Kitty decided to try and save Kurt and phased through the walls of fire to charge Pyro.  
  
"No way girly." Sending his most powerful blast straight at her, John forced her back with the sheer power of the flames. Unable to keep it up, Shadowcat was thrown back, into the helpful arms of Evan.  
  
"Kitty!" Turning on John in a rage, Kurt had to scream at him to break him from the daze he went into when he was controlling the fire. Kurt had seen the look in his eyes before, and he knew it meant trouble. "Stop it John. You know I can't stay with you. The X-Men are my family now, I want to go with them."  
  
"I don't think so." He murmured quietly and sent tendrils of fire around Kurt's ankles and wrists. The flame was too cold to burn him, but hot enough to keep him in place. Then the wild red head turned his focus to the X-Men, who had slowly blasted, iced, and in general forced away almost all of his firewalls.  
  
"I think this fight is a bit uneven, don't you?" Sparks near Pyro's feet rose up, and a head and four legs grew from each. Long tails swished back and forth, sending embers flying from the fire wolves'. There was one for each X-Men and the pack circled the mutants before attacking.  
  
Scott shot his wolf with a full power blast, and it looked like he had won, until the flames regrouped and the fire wolf leapt at him, it's jaws snapping at his head as it flew over him. Kitty merely phased through each of the wolf's attack, but the beast seemed to enjoy this game, trying to catch her off guard and singing her right foot when she was just a little too sluggish.  
  
It was oddly difficult to tell who was who in Magma's fight, her lava body colliding with the pure flames of the wolf. Neither was affected by the heat, and so they fought physically, Amara kicking the wolf's head clear off, but another one soon replaced it.  
  
Kurt watched in horror and tried to move, but was frozen in place by his fiery bonds. Then it occurred to him that he was not in his nightmare, and teleported into the fray.  
  
Jean was having trouble repelling the three wolves that attacked her, Evan, and Rogue continuesly. They never tired, and no matter how much they hit them they just kept reforming. Nightcrawler bamfed between Evan and Rogue, and the two immediately asked if he was okay.  
  
"I'm fine. But we need to stop Pyro. Once he's out of control....." A fireball that was once a wolf was shot right by their heads by Scott's blast.  
  
"We get the picture. So what do you suggest?" Evan held a spike between his hands and was swinging it at the nearest fire creature, but as soon as it clamped it's powerful jaws around it, the stake burst into flames.  
  
"Ah!" The three wolves started to close in, but were taken down by the one mutant made to counter Pyro's powers.  
  
"Dude, you guys need some help?" Body slid along his ice path in the sky, putting out each wolf that got too close, leaving huge ice crystals in their place.  
  
"Rogue." Looking up, she met Kurt's eyes and immediately understood. Kurt placed his hand on her shoulder and teleported them as close to Pyro as he possibly could. Rogue jumped at him and managed to brush a finger across his chest as he dodged away from her.  
  
The two froze and the few remaining fire wolves immediately disappeared. John fell to the ground, panting and generally freaked out. Rogue suddenly took on a vicious countenance and extended her hand. The fires swirled to her, and she hurled it at the weakened Pyro.  
  
"Rogue! Get control of his powers!" Kurt yelled in her ear, and the southern girl rolled her eyes at him but brought the fire back into her hands, playing and caressing it like a precious treasure.  
  
Standing up on shaky legs, Pyro gave a betrayed look to Kurt, who tried to say he was sorry, but was cut off by the arrival of Scott and the others.  
  
"I guess we win. Kurt comes with us."  
  
"Fine. Take him. Force him to wear that little toy of your, hide who he really is."  
  
"He doesn't hide from us." Amara piped in but received only a hard glare from John and therefore decided not to say much more.  
  
"It's so he can be normal. Please, if you came with us, you could see what we mean." Jean again approached the dangerous boy, but he stepped away from her.  
  
"Kurt already is normal. You people don't seem to realize that." He hissed the words at them.  
  
"Please John," Kurt said quietly. "Come with us. Give it a try."  
  
"Never. We are so much better than normal humans. We should be respected, even feared. Humans are worthless vermin compared with us. Make your decision now Kurt. Stay with me, or go with them. But if you go with them, you better never show your face around this circus ever again."  
  
He stood silent for a few seconds, knowing already what his answer would be, but trying to find another way. He knew there were reasons he had left the circus, and Pyro, behind him, but he still missed his friend.  
  
"John, I'm sorry. The X-Men are my family now-"  
  
"I see." Pyro interrupted. He had regained some of his strength now and stole the fire out of Rogue's hand. He held it up and it began to take a ghastly form.  
  
"If your friends think you need to hide yourself and pretend to be a normal human, it just means that they really don't accept you for who you are Kurt." The fire became a 2 foot stake in Pyro's hand as he molded it with his mind. Then a small figure appeared on the stake, indistinguishable as anyone except by the tail which lashed out beside the stake. The X-Men looked in horror at the image, then at Kurt to see the truth reflected in his white eyes.  
  
"And when they have you tied to a stake, I won't be there to put out the fire at your feet." The apparition fell to the ground and became a ten foot tall wall of the hottest flames. All of the X-Men retreated back from the heat, and Kurt lost sight of his first real friend.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
John walked around the fair ground the next day, setting up for the circus but he took no pleasure in it. No smile or cheeky grin crossed his face as he did his work monotonously.  
  
"Pyro." A deep voice nearby said softly. John whirled around and saw someone hovering in front of him. He couldn't see the figures face, for it was covered in the shadow of a mask. A cape trailed in the wind behind him, hanging nearly to the ground.  
  
"What do you want? If you're another one from Xavier's place, I'll teach you a lesson." John took his lighter out of his back pocket, but lost his grip on it as soon as he had taken it out.  
  
The masked figure raised his hand, and the lighter flew to him, then warped and twisted, as if it were a piece of taffy in the man's grasp. John couldn't help but let his jaw drop open.  
  
"You Pyro, have a gift. It is not something to be sheltered away in a mansion, or exhibited for the sake of mere human's entertainment." The caped figure hovered closer, but Pyro did not back down.  
  
"We will teach the human's a lesson. We will show them how weak they are compared to us."  
  
John continued to try and see the man's face, but to no avail. Magneto realized this, and went in for the kill.  
  
"I will stop Xavier from exploiting his own kind. But I need help, from the most powerful mutants I can find. If you help me, we may still be able to show your Nightcrawler the error of his ways."  
  
That night, the circus was missing it's two most famous acts. The amazing Nightcrawler. And Pyro, the fire tamer.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The End. I hope you all enjoyed. There will be no sequel, sorry readers. ^_^ but this is supposed to lead into the series, when Pyro suddenly shows up as an alcolyte. Leave a review of what you thought, and remember, I'm always appreciative of emails and im's. tmbrwolf113 and tmbrwolf113@adelphia.net 


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